About this Event
Accord’s spring concert, Reverence and Resistance, explores two spheres of devotion: spiritual beliefs and humanitarian ideals.
The program’s first half features music of praise, demonstrating the many musical forms in which faith and reverence have been expressed across time and place. Andre Caplet’s Messe a Trois Voix, Ramona Luengen’s Salve Regina, and Fredrick Sixten’s Alleluia serve to inspire through the sheer beauty of the harmonies and soaring melodic lines. Composer Cedrick Howoseb’s Muhona, in the Otjiherero language by way of Namibia, will transport listeners with its joyful rhythms accompanied by djembe. Accord will also present the world premiere of David Douglas’ reimagined setting of the 13th century chant Pangat Melos as a harmonically complex polyphonic motet.
In the second half of the program, Accord presents three significant works that speak directly to our political moment, telling stories of resistance in the face of oppression and loss. Marie-Claire Saindon’s Imaginary Garden is a setting of poetry from Mahvash Sabet, an Iranian educator who has been imprisoned in Iran for most of the past 20 years because of her Baha’i faith. A buoyant melody carries aching lyrics that speak of finding hope in just one flower or branch.
Accord is proud to premiere the treble version of Shireen Abu-Khader’s Rumor Mill, an 8-voice a cappella setting of poetry by Naomi Shihab Nye that expresses the longing of displaced Palestinians for their homeland.
Alongside these stories of loss and hope comes River, by Joan Szymko, capturing the inevitability of change—"a river flowing very fast”—and the necessity of action. “I cannot do everything, but I can do something,” says a lyric quoting the Civil War-era writer and minister Edward Everett Hale.
In their intensity, resilience, and purposeful power, reverence and resistance have much in common. Join Accord for this program that showcases how choral music can speak to the living issues of our time.
Audience members are invited to join us for a reception following the performance.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Saint John’s in the Village, 218 West 11th Street, New York, United States
USD 25.00
